A Variational Integrator for the Discrete Element Method
Numerical Analysis
2022-05-25 v1 Soft Condensed Matter
Numerical Analysis
Abstract
A novel implicit integration scheme for the Discrete Element Method (DEM) based on the variational integrator approach is presented. The numerical solver provides a fully dynamical description that, notably, reduces to an energy minimisation scheme in the quasi-static limit. A detailed derivation of the numerical method is presented for the Hookean contact model and tested against an established open source DEM package that uses the velocity-Verlet integration scheme. These tests compare results for a single collision, long-term stability and statistical quantities of ensembles of particles. Numerically, the proposed integration method demonstrates equivalent accuracy to the velocity-Verlet method.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2103.01757,
title = {A Variational Integrator for the Discrete Element Method},
author = {David N. De Klerk and Thomas Shire and Zhiwei Gao and Andrew T. McBride and Christopher J. Pearce and Paul Steinmann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2103.01757},
year = {2022}
}